Phobia and assumptions
by Chitsukee
Summary: What happens when Torchwick is faced by one of his phobias when Ruby is there? Oneshot. Friendship, no pairing.


"Give it up Torchwick! I won't let you leave with the dust!" Ruby grinned as Torchwick oozed of irritation.

She had been out shopping candy, when she spotted a familiar white coat disappearing in an alley. She had hurriedly followed with Crescent Rose in scythe mode. Surely enough, it was Torchwick, and the sudden "hey!" from her had made him drop the suitcase he was holding. Several tubes filled up with dust had rolled out, hence why he was so annoyed.

"Isn't it your naptime or something? Little kids like you shou-" He stopped talking suddenly and paled. His eyes seemed to focus on something really close to his hat, so Ruby squinted her eyes and saw a spider hanging from it, not far from his face.

He looked horrified and started screaming at a pitch higher than Ruby's when she's excited.

"Get it off! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

The dust scrambled everywhere as he run in circles in sheer panic, screaming himself hoarse. Ruby shook her head in disbelief and sighed.

"Stop! Torchwick stop! I can't help if you run away!"

She started walking towards him but halted as he grabbed the bowler hat and hurled it away. He landed on the ground with a thud as his legs caved in.

"S'kay Torchwick. We all have our fears." She picked up the hat and removed the spider that somehow survived the rough throw. Moving over to him, she put the hat back onto his head and gave his shoulder a pat. "I'm afraid of cleaning, for example. Yang always tell me you can't be afraid of that, and that I'm only trying t-"

She fell silent in surprise as Torchwick grabbed her skirt harshly and buried his face in her torso, sobbing loudly. She got down on her knees and pulled him into a hug.

"Shhh. It's okay now. It's okay. It's gone now."

Suddenly he stiffened and stopped crying. She assumed that was her cue to back off, but as she moved backwards, he grabbed her wrists and pulled her down to the ground. In one swift motion he flipped her around and straddled her back, restricting her movements.

"Wha- What are you doing?!" She stuttered and felt a blush creep onto her face as she felt _something_ pressing against her back. That couldn't be... his…

"Lay still while I tie your hands together, otherwise this will take forever."

"What?! No, please! Just… don't!" She started jerking to get away from his grip.

"Hey! No need to panic, I'm just tying you up. It's not like you will lie here forever. If it will calm you, I'll make an anonymous call to the authorities."

She stopped wriggling and tried to make sense of it all. He straddled her, he was… Excited, and he was tying her up. But he thought she was worried about being left here?

"I...You...You're not… Going to… You're not going to…" She left the sentence hanging, as she felt way too embarrassed to say it out loud.

"Huuuh? What'd you think I was doing? It's not like there's something else I could be doing like thi- Oh. Oooooh." He finished tying her up and got up to his feet. "I might be a criminal, but I'm a gentleman," he dragged her over to the wall and leaned her against it. "I would never do such a thing to someone, it's disgusting."

Her face was burning and she stared at the ground. "I...Um... I'm sorry." His chuckle made her snap her head up to him in surprise.

"You really are a good girl, aren't you? Apologizing for thinking you were about to be raped. But hey, better safe than sorry, right?" He patted her head and got up to gather all the dust. Once he was done he turned to her again.

"Hey, Red. If you forget about the spider, I'll accept your apology."

She stared at him for a while, then she smiled. "What spider? I have _no idea_ what you're talking about."

He grinned. "Good girl. Well, I have to leave now. Got a masterplan to carry through, you know. Good night, red."

His steps echoed through the alley as he disappeared around the corner.

She let out a sight, although she couldn't quite tell if she felt relief of annoyance. Maybe a bit of both.

"Good night, Torchwick. Good luck with the spiders."


End file.
